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Glite Dictionary
Llano Estacado

Llano Estacado

1 9.8
A large dry flat area in the southern Great Plains in Texas and New Mexico
  • proper noun
  • /ˈjɑːnoʊ ɛstəˈkɑːdoʊ/
: Llano Estacado
  • The Llano Estacado is a vast plateau that stretches across parts of Texas and New Mexico.

Examples

  • Several cities, such as Lubbock, are located on the Llano Estacado.

  • Many pioneers found the Llano Estacado challenging to cross due to its lack of water sources.

  • The high winds and flat terrain of the Llano Estacado shape its unique landscape.

  • The Llano Estacado is known for its unique landscape.

  • Have you ever visited the Llano Estacado?

  • Many ranchers depend on the grasslands of the Llano Estacado for grazing their cattle.

  • The Llano Estacado is characterized by its flat terrain and semi-arid climate.

Surface Forms

Llano Estacado main

Morphology

llano + Estacado

The first element 'llano' clearly means 'plain', so a learner who knows the parts would infer this names a kind of flat landscape; however 'Estacado' is a Spanish element (literally 'staked' or similar) and the full referent is a specific toponym for a large semiarid plateau, information not fully recoverable from the constituents. Because the expression is a proper name and only partially compositional (points to a plain but not the precise geographic sense), it is best judged as only partly transparent.

Etymology

Llano Estacado comes from the Spanish words llano ('plain') and estacado ('staked'). One popular story says early Spanish travelers saw rows of wooden stakes or tall grass that looked like stakes across the wide, flat land, so they called it the 'staked plain', which is why the name now means this large, flat plateau.